My name is Joel, I am starting to learn both Greek and Latin to prepare for going back to school in the near future. I am interested in a second career involving academics and/or church work. I intend to eventually learn Hebrew and German also. I am interested in ancient text, church history, and history of the Lutheran church. I hope to meet people here with similar interest. I have found the hardest part is making time to study with full time work.

I'm not entirely new. I signed up about a year and a half ago and asked, I think, a single question; so it seemed appropriate to post here. I took Latin in university, using Wheelock, and I barely made it. Barely making it was a first, though; I'd always failed language courses. (I was diagnosed with ADHD in third year, after failing French, for the second time, despite a serious effort.) In Latin I found out that I was at least capable of learning a second language, which endeared it to me, and I can't stand being able to read only bits of it. I read about Lingua Latina on this site, which I hoped wouldn't grind my mental gears quite as badly as Wheelock did. I'm just getting started at L.L. again after dropping it for a few months, and I'm hoping that this forum will help me stay motivated. (And I assume I'll have all sorts of questions as soon as I get a little further into the book.)

Hello! I am a new member. I teach latin and ancient greek in an athenian public high school. But teaching is not only a typical occupation. I try to present latin texts as a basis and the students give the historical background of the event we search, or try to give the frame of a historical period. I tried to give some informations through Galileo's work "Sidereus Nuncius", a book that I had translated from latin, and the students used some scenes to write a theatrical play and put it in a historical background. Beyond that, latin language as we try to understand it and give the grammar or syntax, is more than a simple topic. So, if I may, here is what we usually say about the use of an infinitive [from the Caesar's phrase "interim Caesar Aeduos frumentum ... flagitare"] We all know that an infinitive could complete the meaning/or the syntax of a verb as a subject or an object. But we have the use of an infinitive in the place of Imperative. Sometimes the orators use the infinitive in the place of a simple tense just to show admiration or astonishment or outrage. And there is for latin language the use of infinitivus historicus, when someone wants to give a story, then he uses the infinitive in the place of past tense and the subject is in nominative. Thank you for your patience, Salvete! marykekr

Hi, I'm a 19 year old Australian University student. It is really sad to see these beautiful important classical tongues slowly die. As a lover of Roman history, and just history in general, I thought it was necessary of me to learn a classical language. That being Latin. My school didn't teach Latin, or much history in general, many in Australia don't. So I am doing my part to carry on the language. I've started from D'Ooge LFB and I can't wait to master the language. I learn't French at school, planning to become fluent, and it sort of helps in my Latin studies. My parents almost laughed when I told them I wanted to learn Latin, as its a "useless" language - in their closed minds. I'm currently up to finishing the 1st declination. Wish me luck, as in my mind, Latin is the most important language of all time, and should be mandatory amoung all western schools.

Veni Vidi Didici

Last edited by Dominus on Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

04 July 2011I collect antique maps which strains my linguistic skills - notably the Latin ones - which are limited to 'O' Level Latin obtained many decades agoCan anyone help me with the full version of what seems to be a Latin ?dedication and consecration? (of a map, a book etc) "L. M. D. C. Q."?I am already grateful for your attention!Neil Davidson

Just starting Latin... and figured out I can as well join the forum. I am an old fashioned learner - I seem to be learning a lot more from the old style textbooks (grammar, drills and repetition) than from all the new systems that keep popping up (although the new systems are making great readers for the most part ).

I have just started learning Classical Latin and would like to eventually move onto Greek also. I have just finished 1 semester at university (beginners) using Reading Latin by Jones and Sidwell and would love to continue with this text independently if anyone else is using the same text or is interested in starting.

My first exposure to Latin was in pre-Vatican II Catholic grade school (suppose I'm dating myself, here). I studied Latin and French in high school and some French and German in college. I'm still able to read and speak a bit of German.

Recently, I decided to teach myself Latin with the goal of reading the Vulgate, ecclesiastical documents, and of course, Harrius Potter, and perhaps conversing in the language. I stumbled upon the Textkit site while researching Latin language resources.

As of yet, I haven't decided which method to use--traditional grammar/translation, inductive, or maybe a combination of the two.

I've been reading about Ancient Greece on and off for the last several years. I'd like to learn to read Greek and perhaps be able to read some original texts. This looks like the perfect place. I'm amazed that such a forum exists, with so many texts available! Thanks and congrats to all involved!

Greetings from Baltimore! I'm a former high school Latin teacher and current PhD candidate in classical philology at The Johns Hopkins University. Of all that I love about Latin and Greek, I'm most into the evolution of prose, prose composition, style, and prosody. I could never pick a favorite author, but right now I'm reading Livy, Herodotus, Varro, and Vergil's Eclogues.

I first came to Textkit a few years ago, looking for grammars in the public domain. Now I'd like to get involved with the community. From here I'll check out the forum and see what's happening.

I just tried to download one of the texts but I wasn't allowed to. It said I wasn't logged in, although I am in this Forum section. Interesting. Anyway, I think I'm supposed to post twice before I can do somethings, right? I'm posting in this thread again in hopes that I will now be able to download one of the texts so I can get started.

I am a mom homeschooling a teen daughter. She and I will be starting Latin next month. This will be interesting for me as the only language experience I have is a long forgotten year of high school Spanish and a little Korean I picked up in the military!

I'm an intermediate Greek reader in So. Cal. struggling my way through Iliad book I with my young daughter. A daily struggle and joy. Greatly looking forward to visiting these boards along the way! Thanks a lot and best,

hey, all.. i'm a 47 year old guy with a lofty goal many of you share -- to be able to read Plato in the Greek. i only found after looking into the matter how very difficult a problem this is, and the years of study i am looking at.

but to make matters worse, i am actually looking for a spoken method like the Pimsleur language learning system (see also Simon & Schuster website) -- but i know this is a tall order. however, if you've ever used a Pimsleur learning tape, you know how superior they are to anything else out there for getting you off the ground with a language. Dr. Pimsleur really did study how we learn a language, and he replicated it. Too bad this does not exist for Classical Greek. i do believe it could actually be done, with some funding.

in contrast, Classical Greek is most often taught starting from grammar and syntax rules, but that's really backwards from how we all learn language in real life. we start by hearing, practicing speaking -- in short by being IMprecise. only later do we learn precision, in the advanced stages of a language, not at the beginning.

when we want to speak English, we don't look up the right declension of a verb in a table -- we just know it from usage. the "tables" are in our head, but not in list format, in "feel" format. Pimsleur knew this.

so i would love to find a similar method for teaching Classical Greek.

i've looked at all the "tables" methods: Athenaze, Mastronarde, Hardy Hansen, and others.

for this "learn through using" method, i haven't found anything spoken of course. but the closest things in writing i have found are Peter Jones' "Learn Ancient Greek", which is fun, but really only a start.. and also the 3 JACT books

which form a full year course, and apparently try to give you as close to a Pimsleur method as possible -- usage. but it's in writing, not spoken. still, i appreciate the effort to use a method closer to natural language learning. i have not tried it yet, but this is what i only gather from the reviews.. i may give the JACT triplet of books a shot, soon.

i also heard that this guy, Adamantios Korais, started a movement back in the early 1800's to get Greek back to its Classical roots, and actually a whole generation of Greeks grew up speaking this version of Greek (katheravousa) which was closer to the original Classical Greek, and supposedly some of these people are still around and can read Plato in the original without having to sit with a dictionary. However, unfortunately, Katheravousa came to be associated politically with the dictatorship of 1967-74 and the Colonels, so that now it has put a bad taste in everyone's mouth, and was later discontinued. But what I got from this was that it IS possible to learn to SPEAK and THINK in ancient Greek NATURALLY, not mechanically. And that reading the Plato would be possible without looking every dang word and declension/inflection up. And i would very much like to take that road, rather than the dictionary and grammar books. Don't get me wrong -- i have nothing against these tools, per se -- and they can be used very much for precision. But as I say IMHO they should be used in advanced stages of a language .. not in the beginning.

has anyone any ideas or sources for learning Ancient/Classical/Attic Greek in this natural way? i would be forever in your debt!

There are actually a couple of courses which use a more "natural" approach to learning Greek.

- Assimil's Le Grec ancien sans peine (course book is in French & Greek, audio in Greek only) - Christopher Rico's Polis Koine. Again, the course is originallly designed for French speakers. I think he's working on an English translation of the text but I don't know if it's out yet. Note that the course is for Koine Greek, not classical Greek, so there will be some minor differences in vocabulary and usage.- Athenaze has a mixture of more traditional methodology as well as learning through exposure.- Ancient Greek Alive is very different than Athenaze but also uses a mixture of approaches.

Please note I don't have experience using any of these courses to actually learn Greek, as I learned from a traditional textbook, but there are users here who may be able to share more about their experiences. Also, check the Greek forums, as this topic has come up before.

Hello, I never did learn Latin at school (I opted for French instead) and now that I study history at the university of Hamburg I need some understanding of latin inscriptions, especially working on historic maps of Hamburg, where I could need some help in translation. (see my request at "Learning Greek" with the subject "Hamburga...")

I am a young spanish guy who just loves classical languages. I learned Latin using Hans' Orberg Lingua Latina per se Illustrata books (though I will soon start the second volume), since they didn't teach me Latin at school.

I began studying greek about 9 months ago, but because of my college studies (and laziness) we could say I started last May. I have used Athénaze and Assimil Le Grec Ancien sans Peine ever since, so my greek writing is actually quite poor. Anyway, I hope to find soon some good books on greek writing and composition.

I'm Andy, I'm 62, the last time I studied Latin was in High School and I never studied Greek. When I was about 30 I took out a copy of the Aeneid book II from the public library. It was from the Loeb Classics, with the text on one page and the English crib on the facing page. (Wish I had discovered these when I was at school) Was interesting to discover that some few shards of high school lessons remained. Now that I'm old, and retired, I want to try learning all over again, both because it's fun and perhaps to avert Alzheimer's. I've already discovered that learning is slower than it used to be. Also, since I don't need to pass tests, my motivation is sometimes a bit of an issue. Anyway, I'm going to give it a go.

I'm a firm believer in the usefulness of learning latin, but I'm not going to preach since I guess this readership is already converted.

Best wishes to all fellow students of whatever age, ability and background.

Hello, I'm a college student who majors in absolutely nothing related to Greek. I bought a book that teaches reading knowledge of Homeric Greek and have been working my way through it, thought I'd come over here and get some help when I need it

Hi everyone! I've just started to teach myself Latin after learning a few basic words in school some years back. Hopefully this site will help me with a few questions I have relating to whether my endeavour is foolhardy

I am new to the board. I have just started teaching Latin and I am looking forward to introducing my young students to the joys of learning Latin! I am also happy to have found a forum of users who share an interest in the classical languages and look forward to getting to know you all.

Greetings! I studied classics many years ago in college and, like many others on this board, am returning to Greek later in life (probably don't have the time to renew the Latin too). So far I am enjoying the experience tremendously. Look forward to chatting on the board with other students.